Proper 27: Old Testament, Amos 5:18-24      

Amos 5:18-24                        

There is a section in our Bibles that is, if not ignored, just misses our attention a good portion of the time. And I actually do blame the common label that has been given to the “minor” prophets. If any thinking person reads the text of any one of these mighty men of God, to consider them minor would be the highest error. And of course the connotation “minor” has absolutely nothing to do with their level of importance to the biblical canon. The books are small. That’s it. All fitting on a single scroll where the major prophets each held their own.

Amos, prophet to the Northern Kingdom in the 8th century before Jesus comes across loud and clear and his message is not a pleasant one for the pagan-influenced north. The prophets are stunning in both timeliness and timelessness. Meaning that they indeed spoke to the issues of their day and yet their message streams across the ages and applies to our day as if they were tapping at a computer keyboard. How can that be? Simply because the illness confronted in the prescriptions of the prophets never changes. (cf. Jeremiah 17:9) The human heart, unaided by grace, is always and forever dark and dead. Plain and simple.

In today’s reading, Amos gives voice to the heart of our Lord who sees nothing but an empty shell in the “worship” of his people. They clamor for a “perceived” justice in their cause against their enemies hoping for “the Day of the Lord.” And the prophet simply asks, “Why? Why would you cry for justice? Believe me, you want anything but justice.” The feigned worship of God’s people nauseates the God they claim to worship, “Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them” (Amos 5:22a). And, “Take away the melody of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen,” v. 23. God is saying, “Don’t bother.”

We in our day and age have added modifiers to a word which needs none. “Social Justice,” “Economic Justice,” “Racial Justice.” On and on it goes and it only highlights our ignorance regarding a word that our Lord gives the only right definition for in the first place. Justice. God’s right way. God speaks through Amos and declares to Israel in effect to stop with the clamor and pageantry and “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Do the right thing. Always do the right thing. God’s Word leaves us anything but clueless on the issue. It’s clear as crystal. It’s as clear as can be.